Daegu Bank Receives Approval to Open Ho Chi Minh Branch... Second Overseas Branch After Shanghai, China

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] DGB Daegu Bank announced on the 10th that it has received official approval from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to open a Ho Chi Minh City branch.

This approval came four years after the application for branch establishment in 2016, following the opening of an office in 2014, allowing Daegu Bank to begin full-scale preparations for operations in Vietnam.

A Daegu Bank official stated, “This approval is meaningful as it was granted despite the Vietnamese government's reluctance to approve foreign bank branch establishments amid local bank restructuring and the challenges faced by the State Bank of Vietnam due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. We believe the approval of the Ho Chi Minh City branch serves as an opportunity to confirm economic cooperation and mutual trust between Korea and Vietnam.”

Considering that it has taken over 10 years in some cases for other foreign banks to obtain branch establishment approval in Vietnam, Daegu Bank’s official approval for the Ho Chi Minh City branch is noteworthy. The official added, “Founded in 1967 and having grown alongside the region for over half a century, the bank’s advantage as a regional bank supporting local small and medium-sized enterprises appears to have been a key factor behind the approval.”

Daegu Bank has been steadily laying the groundwork to become a global 100-year bank with the opening of branches in Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City in 2012. Taking administrative procedures into account, the Ho Chi Minh City branch is expected to begin operations around mid-August.

The Ho Chi Minh City branch plans to focus on corporate loans for Korean companies operating in Vietnam and gradually localize through syndicated loans, playing a pivotal role in the Southeast Asian network.

DGB Financial Group is advancing toward becoming a global financial group by establishing the Indochina financial belt and has built overseas networks in Cambodia, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, and Laos.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.